Clay Cane is a New York City-based writer who is recognized for his contributions in journalism. Clay is a regular contributor for various print and online publications such as The Advocate and BET.com. He is the author of the highly anticipated novel Ball-Shaped World, which is a fictionalized account of the black and Latino ballroom scene. Also, he is the Entertainment Editor at BET.com and a member of New York Film Critics Online.
He can be reached at claycane@gmail.com.

Friday, February 16, 2007

Between Tim Hardaway, Devon Christopher (Publisher and CEO of The BLEU Magazine) being harassed by an NYC transit worker and this incident in Jamaica the straights are losin' their cotton-pickin' mind! Of course NOT all the straights! Normally I don't repost news stories, but this story blew me away. Honestly and truly, it sounds like a scene from the Salem Witch Trials! In addition, I posted another story from almost exactly three years ago about a father who encouraged a crowd to beat his son because he thought he was gay...he smiled while watching.

These three men, who were branded as homosexuals, are rescued by the police after being lockedinside the Monarch Pharmacy in St Andrew for about an hour yesterday. The man at front ducks after being hit on the head by a stone thrown by a member of theangry mob which had gathered outside the pharmacy and demanded that the three be handed over to them. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)THREE men branded as homosexuals were yesterday rescued by the police from an angry mob outside a pharmacy in Tropical Plaza, where they had been holed up for almost an hour.

But even after the police managed to take the young men from the Monarch Pharmacy, one of the three was hit with a stone, forcing officers to fire tear gas on the crowd which included men, women, teenagers and small children. The approximately 2,000 people gathered outside the Kingston pharmacy hurled insults at the three men, with some calling for them to be killed.

The crowd grew larger as the minutes ticked by and the three men and staff inside the pharmacy were visibly terrified as the mob demanded that they be sent out so they could administer their brand of justice. "Send them out!" shouted one man.

The men, who all had bleached-out faces, and dressed in tight jeans pants and skimpy shirts, (note: Okay, they were feeling it!) were saved due to quick action by police from the St Andrew Central Division. When the officers arrived and attempted to push the crowd back from the front door of the business place they were greeted with some resistance and when they attempted to escort the men to a police service vehicle, which was parked near to the entrance of the pharmacy, one of the alleged homosexuals was hit on the back of the head with a stone as he flashed a wry smile before attempting to hustle inside the police car.

The cops were forced to disperse the large mob by dispensing tear gas canisters and whisking the men away as the crowd scampered in all directions in an effort to escape the irritating fumes.

One man in the crowd was determined to get a chance to beat them and hurled insults at the police when they drove out of the premises.

"Unu can come save them nasty boy yah? Them boy yah fi go down," the man bellowed. One woman expressed surprise at the brazenness of the men who were clearly displaying effeminate behaviour. "Jamaica has lost its way if men think they can openly flaunt being gay without any consequences. We don't want that kind of open gay life in this country," the woman said.

Homosexuality is frowned upon in Jamaica and gay rights groups have constantly branded the island as anti-gay. Under Jamaican law a male can be slapped with a sentence of up to nine years if caught in a compromising position with another man.

A Jamaican teen was beaten unconscious by a schoolyard gang after his own father stirred up the students claiming his son is gay.

The father went to the Dunoon Park Technical High School in east Kingston and began yelling in Jamaican slang that his son is gay and that the other students should teach him a lesson. He said he had found pictures of nude men in the boy's school bag. Jamaica is notoriously homophobic, and the home of several rap singers whose music has been the subject on demonstrations by gay activists in Britain.

The students tore boards off benches on the playground and began beating the 11th grade student while his father allegedly looked on smiling and then drove off. "Them bruck up desk and bench and beat him up badly,"one Dunoon student told the Kingston Observer. "Him get nuff lick, box, kick and thump from boy and girl."

A teacher said the gang was intent on killing the boy. "They were like a pack of wild animals who had smelled blood and if it wasn't for a staff member who jumped on top of him, you would be reporting on a mob killing."The staff member who threw himself on the teen to protect him said: "Me have to jump on him and shield him cause them was going to kill him. Me get a whole heapof licks, but me push him in the office and lock him in."

Another teacher called police. When officers arrived the frenzied students hurled stones at them, injuring several policemen and damaging police cars and motorbikes. The policeeventually were able to rescue the youngster and take him to hospital. At least a dozen students were taken to a police station but were not charged. A police spokesperson said they were given a stern warning and released.

No charges were laid against the father. Police said it was a family issue.

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If you would like to complain about this foolishness and injustice here is the information: